Vehicle-wheel tire.



No. 650,62I. Patented May 29, |900. A. L. STEVENS.

VEHICLE WHEEL TIRE.

(Application filed I'Wov. 3, 1899.)

(No Model.)

1n: msvfrzns co.. Pnomu'mo. wm. n. c

UNITED STATE-sv ARTI'IR L. STEVENS,

on NEW YORK,

VEHICLE-WHEEL TIRE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 650,621, dated May 29,1900.-

` Application filed November 3, 1899. Serial No. 735,668. (No-model.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR L. STEVENS, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at the city of New York, borough of Manhattan, Stateof New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inVehielo-Wheel Tires, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to tires for vehiclewheels, and more particularlyfor motor-ve-V and save much of the serious expense for repairs andrenewals attending use of heavy pneumatic tires on vehicles of theautomobile class.

The invention will rst be described and then will be particularlydefined in claims hereinafter set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, Figurel is a side elevation of a portion of a vehicle-wheel rim having apreferred` improved tire. Fig. 2 is a transverse's'ection thereof on theirregular line A A in Fig. l. Fig. 3 is amuch enlarged section ofafragment of the tire shown in Figs.

l and 2. Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view in Ythe plane of the Wheeland taken on the line B B in Fig. 2, and Figs. 5 and 6 are respectivelyperipheral -and cross-sectional .views illustrating another method ofbuilding up Ythe tire.

Referring first to Figs. I to 4 of the drawings, the numeral l indicatesthe improved tire. 2 is the wheel felly or rim. 3 3 are opposing iiangeplates made, preferably, of metal and in this instance securely fastenedby bolts It to opposite sides of the felly. The iiange-plates projectoutward beyond the felly to receive the tire between them and providefor effective fastening of it to the wheelrim. For this purpose I preferto use bolts 5, passed transversely through the iange-plates and throughholes specially provided for them in the tire. The tire may restdirectly on a metal felly; but with a Wood felly and as a binder for itLprefer to use a metal band 6, peripherally fitting the felly and alsoforming a bed-plate supporting the tire. Said bolts 5, with theflange-plates 3 3, securing the tire, and the bolts 4, holding theseplates to the strength, with comparatively-light weight for the hardservice required of it when used for automobiles.

of layers 7 of woven fabric, such as canvas or substantially-similarmaterial, with interposed or alternating layers of a rubber or rubbercompound adhesive or binder 8. These alternating layers of woven fabricand rubber adhesive are laid or built up in a mold and are vulcanizedtherein under pressure into one practically-homogeneous tire structureof requisite form for attachment tov the WheeLrim, as abovedescribed,and preferably having the rounded-outer corners shown in Fig.2 of the drawings. The fragmentary cross-sectional view of Fig. .3shows, on a much-enlarged scale, portions of but six fabric layers 7 andseven adhesive or binder layers 8, the main object of this View being to-indicate that the rubber adhesive is preferably as thin or light as maybe used to agglutinate or bind the Woven-fabric layers into one compactand practically-homogeneous Ylaterally-laminated tire structurepresenting Vits woven-fabric and rubber-adhesive layers edgewise to theroad. In building up this tire I prefer to use woven-fabric strips 7 ofproper width and cut on the bias. These strips are preferably stretchedat their outer edge to curve them as nearly as may be to thecircumferential contour of the wheel-rim, and thereby prevent unduewaste of fabric in the cutting of it. This bias cutting of the fabric isimportant because it arranges the Vfabric threads or fibers at the mostadvantageous tangential angles in the tire structure, as shown in Fig. 4of the drawings, to give the best tractive effect of these threads,while `preventing too-near approach of either the warp or weft threadsto the circumferential wood felly, assure a wheel having lgreat As shownin Figs. 1 to 4, the tire is formed ICO The tire shown in Figs; 5 and 6of the drawings is built up of already-vulcanized strips or plates 9,each formed of several alternating layers'of woven fabric and rubberadhesive and cut or stamped segment-ally from merchantable sheet-rubberstock and wi'tl'r holes for the bolts 5, which fasten the tire 'to therim liange-plates 3.- These strips 9 -are preferably laid liatwise uponeach other, so as to break joints at the ends, as shown at l0 in Fig. 5,and the whole is then vulcanized under pressure in a mold into onecompact tire structure having proper form for attachment to thewheel-rim by the bolts', as shown in Fig. 6 of the drawings.

Important operative features of the tire herein described are that thecompacted edgewise-disposed woven-fabric and rubber-adhesive layersproduce a tire which has a most effective traction on the pavement orroad andis practically noiseless and has the necessary elasticity toassure easy travel of a vehicle and is very durable in use. The fabricand rubber layers at the extreme peripheral tread of the tire also takeup and hold a sufficient -quantity of gritty or sandy road particles tormaterially assist or augment the inherent tractive quality of saidlayers, and consequently a maximum tractive eect is always assured oneither dry or wet pavements or roads, and dangerous sidewise slipping orswaying of the vehicle is also prevented. The ncompacted woven-fabricand rubber layers have such degree of elasticity that the tire instantlyexpands behind the point of road coni tact as its tread leaves theground. Hence the tire has a tendency to automatically expel all excessof gritty particles, which if permanently lodged on its tread mightlessen rather A V'than increase the tractive effect on the road.

Any possible lateral separation of the Woven-` fabric and rubber layersat the extreme road- "contact face or tread of the tire under weight ofthe vehiclepor load facilitates lodgment of gritty particles on thetread to maintain the best tractive results. The original compact- `ingpressure prevents excessive lateral separation of the fabric and rubberlayers at the tire-tread, and this effect is further assured by theclamping action of the plates 3 and bolts "5, which maintain the laterallaminal integrity of the tire, while securely holding it Vto Vthewheel-rim.

A further important advantage of my compacted edgewise-disposedwoven-fabric and rubber layer tire is that the layers of woven fabric,at their transverse holes through which the bolts 5 pass, offer suchgreat resistance to the circumferential drag or pull on said bolts thatthere is practically no danger of even a driving-wheel tire stretchingits boltholes and tearing itself loose at the bolts. A

most substantial fastening of the tire to the wheel-rim thus always ismaintained, and creeping of the tire is eifectually prevented, therebyassuring the best tractive results andthe maximum durability of the tireand promoting the most positive and easy control of all movements of thevehicle.

There is practically no chance of road grit or dirt working itself intothe interior of the body of this tire to quickly disrupt or destroyi't,as sometimes happens with ordinary tires having an inner body andanouter circumferential envelop or tread of rubber or rubber compound orother material. I have known of instances where severa-l pounds of roadgrit and dirthave thus worked in through a comparatively-smallslit-puncture of such circumferential tread and between it and theinner-tire body, thus quickly throwing the wheel out of use andrequiring expensive repairs. Therebeingnosuchcircumferentiallyseparabletread on my improved-tire, all such delaying and expensive accidents areavoided.

Tires have heretofore been made `of compacted leather pieces presentingtheir edges to the road; but leather is more liable to soften underweather inliuences and wear, and therefore is less durable than theWoven-fabric and rubber-adhesive layers of my improved tire, and theseleather tires also have much less elasticity. Tires comprising alternateVlayers of comparatively-thick cork and rubbelset ed gewise and coveredwith an envelop of rubber or asbestos also have been made; but suchtires quickly wear out, Vbecause when the envelop is worn away thefriable and easily-disintegrated cork is exposed to the road. The samequick wear of the tire ensues when the envelop is originally omitted andsheet or agglutinated granular cork is used with alternating rubberlayers and is exposed directly to the road. ,y

I am not aware of any prior tire composed of laterally-laminatedv layersof woven fabric and rubber adhesive and presenting these layers edgewiseto the road; nor do I know of a tire formed of such woven-fabricandrubber edgewise-disposed layers compacted by vulcanization; nor havel seen any prior tire formed of such layers with the woven fabric cutbiasto prevent stripping of the fabric threads'from the tire-tread; nordo I know of any prior tire having woven fabric and rubber layerssecured to a wheel-rim by fas- 'tenings which prevent creeping ofthetire and also maintain its lateral laminal integrity.

I do not strictly limit myself to single alternate layers of wovenfabric and rubber adhesive, as more than one layer of fabric may be usedbetween two rubber layers and more than one rubber layer may be usedbetween two fabric layers; but the alternate single layers of wovenfabric and rubber adhesive here- IOC) IIO

inbefore described are preferred in practice.

As rubber or rubber compound is used in -thesetiresbecause of itspeculiar elastic and adhesive and tractive and durable qualities,

it is obvious that any other substance or compound now or hereafter tobe known which has such qualities in necessary degree may be substitutedfor rubber or its compounds Within the scope of this invention andpatent. The term rubber used in this specification is therefore to beconstrued as including rubber or its compounds or any other substancehaving substantially-similar qualities.

' I claim as my invention*- l. A vehicle-wheel tire comprising compactedlayers of edgewise-disposed woven fabric and a rubber adhesive.

2. A vehicle-wheel tire comprising edgewise-disposed layers of wovenfabric and a rubber adhesive compacted by or during vulcanization.

3. A vehicle -Wheel tire comprisingr compacted layers ofedgewise-disposed bias-cut woven fabric and a rubber adhesive.

4. A vehicle-Wheel tire comprising layers of edgewise-disposed bias-cutwoven fabric and a rubber adhesive compacted by or during vulcanization.

5. A vehicle-Wheel tire comprising compacted layers of edgeWise-disposedwoven fabric and a rubber adhesive, combined'with a felly, andfastenings securing the tire to thefelly and maintaining laterallaininal integrity of the tire.

6. A vehicle-wheel tire comprising con1- pacted layers ofedgeWise-disposed woven fab- 7 A vehicle-wheel tire comprising compactedlayers of edgewise-disposed woven fabric and a rubber adhesive, combinedwith a felly, iiange-plates fastened to the fell-y, and bolts passedtransversely through the flangeplates and tire and clamping the tirebetween said plates.

8. A vehicle -Wheel tire comprising compacted layers ofedgewise-disposed Woven fabric and a rubber adhesive, combinedwith afelly, a bed-plate peri pherally fitting the felly, iiange-plates heldat opposite faces of the felly' and projecting beyond the bed-plate andlaterally sustaining the compacted layer-tire which rests on thebed-plate and projects beyond the Harige-plates, and means clamping lthetire between said flange-plates.

9. A Vehicle-Wheel tire comprising kcompacted layers ofedgewise-disposed woven fabric and a rubber adhesive and having trans-Verse holes adapted to receive fastenings holding the tire to aWheel-rim.

10. A vehicle-Wheel tire comprising edgewise-disposed layers of Wovenfabric and a rubber adhesive compacted by or during vuleanizati'on andhaving transverse holes adapted to receive fastenings holding the tireto a wheel-rim.

11. A vehicle-wheel tire comprising compacted layers ofedgewise-disposed bias-cut woven fabric and a rubber adhesive and havingtransverse holes adapted to receive fastenings holding the tire to awheel-rim.

ARTHUR L. STEVENS.

Witnesses:

A. W. GILBERT, DANIEL R. KENNEDY.

